After a five year battle with dementia, John Eugene Yazel, 91, of McHenry, passed away peacefully in Barrington on Monday, June 11, 2018 surrounded by the love of his family. He was born January 14, 1927 in the small farming community of Padua, IL to Archibald Griffith and Millie Frances (Faber) Yazel. John was a long-time business owner in Crystal Lake and was instrumental in the early gravel industry in McHenry County along with the Chicagoland area.
John suffered many hardships as a young child. He lost his mother when he was eleven years old and a year later was badly burned in a stove explosion resulting in a year-long stay in the hospital. Many nights he and his brother, Paul, went to bed hungry.
In his forties he developed Melanoma skin cancer on his scarred arm, but beat the cancer only to have it return again and again. He beat it every time. In his seventies he had open heart surgery.
John’s love of and from his family got him through these rough times. John married Anna Mae Frances Bales of Elmhurst, IL and in 1949 with next to no money, a used Army truck and a lot of guts and ambition started a trucking company naming it Yazel Cartage. Nine years later in 1958, John packed up his young family and moved them from Elmhurst to Crystal Lake where he became one of the largest trucking companies in Northwest Illinois.
In 1962 he added Sunrise Cartage to his growing fleet of trucks. John was fearless in life and when he was younger raced motorcycles and professional go-carts. He also piloted his own small plane with total abandon often doing dangerous stunts.
He was an active boater on the Fox River and traveled extensively across the United States in his Airstream. He and his brother were active members of the Midwest Unit W.B.C.C.I. Airstream Club and, at one time, John served as its president. For over fifty years, John and his second wife, Joni, spent the winter months in the Ft.
Myers, FL area. John passed on his deep love of animals, his sense of adventure and fun including extensive amounts of teasing, his driving ambition to succeed, to put family above all else, and his fondness of cheap candy to his entire family. First and foremost, John loved his children from the oldest child to the youngest great-grandchild.
Even when he was in the end stages of dementia, he often asked, “How are our kids? Are they okay? Do they need anything?
” He was a huge presence in his family’s lives and although he will be missed, he will never be forgotten. John will also be missed by his loving caregivers at Sunrise Assisted Living in Barrington who loved and treated him with great respect during his final years. He is survived by his five children, Ann (Donald) Mueller, Donna (Jay) Johnson, Mary (Jeffrey) Yazel, Robert Yazel, Steven (Judy) Yazel; thirteen grandchildren; fourteen great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He is further survived by his extended Bales family. Besides his parents, John was preceded in death by his wife, Joan Kertcher; brother, Paul Yazel; son, John Yazel; grandson, Steven Yazel; and step-son, Terry Geisen. A memorial visitation will be held Sunday, June 24, from 11 AM until the time of a service at 2 PM at Davenport Family Funeral Home and Crematory, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave.
(Rte. 176), Crystal Lake. Interment will be private.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to any animal rescue group of your choice or JourneyCare Hospice at www. journeycare.org. John E. Yazel wasn’t famous, but stories of his escapades will be told long after we’re all gone from this earth.
#YazelProud Donations may be made to: JourneyCare Foundation 2050 Claire Ct.
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